I'm in a city now.
　Next to the Stark territory - a fortified city surrounded by a wall.
　With a sideways glance at a child begging for a toy, I headed straight for a certain section of the city.

　When I arrived at my destination, I frowned, "Ugh.

　A sulfur-like smell stung my nose.
　It was thin and smoky, and the air was clearly bad.
　There was a workshop on the side, and every time there was a high-pitched sound, a red light lit up.

　It was commonly known as the 'Black Market'.
　It was a corner lined with blacksmith's workshops.
　Every big town has one, and the environment is bad.
　The only people walking the streets were also adventurers carrying dangerous weapons on their backs.

　Naturally, there are no children in such a place.
　If they were found, they would be snatched out.

　I activated my 【Searcher(Seeker)】 magic.

　[Illusion]

　It's a magic that reacts to the gaze directed at the surgeon and implant a false perception through the opponent.
　A similar magic is 【Illusion】, but that one is a magic that channels deceptive information to the eye. [Illusion] - for example, it's a magic that causes the perception of 'child' to be misinterpreted as 'adult'.
　It's simpler than 【Illusion】 and above all, the magic power is cosier than [Illusion].
　It was a magic that I often used when I was a 【Searcher(Seeker)】 in a past life.

　I walked into the 'Black Market' full of squalid adventurers.
　However, no one can blame me for my appearance.
　It seems to be a success.

　It was a bit of a letdown.
　I was confident in my magic, but in the end, no adventurers who noticed the [Illusion] had appeared.
　In the past, I would have noticed at least one or two of them........
　It seems that the quality of the adventurers is declining just like the demonic beasts.

　I easily arrived at the store I was looking for.
　I go inside. The sign said that it was a tool shop, but it also had weapons and other items.
　Rather than a tool shop, I feel like a general store.

　Going into the back, the owner was rowing a boat behind the counter.
　The moment I called out to him, he jumped up from the chair he was sitting on.
　''Welcome,'' he said hurriedly, giving an affectionate smile.

'I'm here to sell you some demonic beast material. I need you to appraise the amount.''

All right. Let's see. Where is the stuff?

　I take out a small bag from my pocket.
　When I filled it with magic power, it glowed and expanded.
　What appeared was the horn of a magical beast.

　However, it wasn't the material of the magical beast that impressed the shopkeeper.

''Oh!　Wow!　Is that the magic of [storage] now?

　The owner of the store sits back.

　It wouldn't be that surprising.
　A 【Mage(Wizard)】 who is good at spatial magic should be a matter of common sense.

''This is the first time I've seen you. Could it be that you - a famous great mage?

You can't flatter me. You'll get a good price for your money.

I don't think so. I'm just telling you the truth. I'm really new to this. I heard there were a lot of them in the old days.

　[Storage] is an intermediate level of magic.
　It certainly requires a certain amount of skill points to acquire it.
　But it shouldn't be high by any means.

　Is the level of occupational magic that low?
　I'm getting a little sad.

''So?　How much are you willing to pay for it?

　The owner checks the contents.
　In fact, he held it in his hand and looked at it seriously.
　Eventually, he uses the magic of 【Appraisal】.

　Such a dim-witted father is a 【Blacksmith】?
　In the old days, the [villagers] used to do it with their own eyesight.......

''Wha-ha!

　My dad suddenly grunted.

　Hmm?　What's going on?
　What did I do?

Sir, is that a narwhal tiger horn?

　How true.
　The contents of the bag are narwhal tiger horns that I took down and collected.
　As I experimented with various things, I found myself collecting a lot of them.
　What's on the counter now is part of it.

　The materials from narwhal tigers can be used to make magic tools and medicines.
　Although commonplace, with this much, 20 silver coins would not be crap.
　It's worth it for a couple of nights at a slightly better inn.
　I'm going to use this to buy food for the demonic beasts and the materials I need to synthesize stronger demonic beasts.

''Did you gather them yourself?''

Do you doubt me?

Excuse me...... I'm sure he's a very famous mage after all, taking down a B-ranked monster like this. I'm afraid of you, sir.

　He raises his horns as if he were a god and bows his head in a pecking order.

　Yeah?　Isn't it funny?
　The narwhal tiger was supposed to be a C-grade.
　Since when did it get a B grade?
　Well, is it strange to ask the owner here?
　I don't want people to get suspicious and look at my feet.

　I'll have to check it out for myself later.

"So how much is it worth?

'Well. Well. How about 50 gold coins?

　Hmm...
　So that's how it is.
　I'm not fooled, shopkeeper.

　This is still a man who has been called a blackhound in the Black Market and is feared by many.

　I'm a bit confident in my ability to negotiate a price.
　When I was a [Professor], I was also the best merchant in the world.
　Let's lightly debate a shopkeeper who runs a shop in a corner of the "Black Market".

''Shopkeeper. "Shopkeeper, 50 gold pieces is a bit--

　....................

　......hmm?

　Wait a minute.

　50 gold pieces?

No, no, you said 50 gold pieces, owner.

'What?　Yes........

　Oh, that's strange.
　The horns of narwhal tigers are not a very rare magical material.
　Hence, they're rather hard to buy.
　In the old days, if you received a silver coin for each horn, you would be fine.
　We have 20 of them here.
　If it was one silver coin, I thought it would be about 20 silver coins....

　50 gold coins?

　Uh. Wait a minute.
　50 silver coins should be worth 1 gold coin, so if you convert 50 gold coins to silver coins.........

　...........

　Woohoo!

　It's been so long since I've been upset that I can't do simple mental math!

　But what do you mean?
　Has the value of money declined over the last 300 years?

What can you buy with 50 gold pieces?

'What?　I mean, yeah, you could buy a single-family house and a covered carriage, couldn't you?

　It's the same.
　The value of money is not that different.
　It used to be about the same.

　You mean that one?
　So the value of the narwhal tiger's horns has gone up!

''Oh, um.... If you're not happy, I'll be happy to study the price a bit more.

　The owner asked fearfully.
　Apparently, he took my earlier question as a provocation.
　Before waiting for an answer from me, he began to think.

'Well then, how about 57 gold coins?'

Fifty-seven gold pieces?

　I let out a barefaced voice.
　I've added 7 gold coins.
　Seven gold coins are converted to silver coins........no, let's not think about it.

''Eh?　Is this not good enough?　No, I'll do my best. Such high quality narwhal tiger horns..... It's not easy to find such high quality narwhal horns on the market.

　It seems that my loud voice further ignited the shopkeeper's business spirit.

　Oh, hey......... Take it easy, shopkeeper.

"For 59 gold coins!

59!

'Yeah!　The big one!　62!

Sixty-two?

You're quite good at that. I'll see what I can do. My life depends on it!　Let's call this whole store!

　No!　Don't do it!

　Don't push it any further, shopkeeper!

　We've seen enough of your soul!

"Take it away, thief!　Sixty-nine gold coins!

　Geez!


　◆◇◇◇◇◇


Well, I'm always...

　The owner, burned out to pure white, exerts his last ounce of strength to see me off.

　I leave the store.
　A bag with a large amount of gold coins was in my hand.
　It was heavy, but it was still half full.
　But this is still half of it.
　That shopkeeper..... He spent all the money he had in the store and gave it to me.
　He said he would give me the rest as soon as he borrowed the money from the moneylender.

　I look at the bag.

　I feel like...
　I feel like I've been scammed.

　But this is the soul of the shopkeeper.
　I can't just say it's too expensive, and I can't take it back now.

　I was a little heartbroken, and decided to donate part of the gold coins to the nearby orphanage.